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9.03.2009

What I Saw This Summer, Part 4: Studio Visits with Pam Farrell and Steven Alexander

.I'm cheating with this post. I actually visited these studios in the spring. But both artists, Pam Farrell and Steven Alexander, are doing such interesting work and I'm not sure when I'll get back their way again--west of Manhattan in New Jersey and Pennsylvania-- that I decided to include them in this summer series. Besides, spring stretched all the way into July this year..

.We start in Flemington, New Jersey, at the studio ofPam Farrell. One of the things about studios outside the City is that artists tend to own rather than rent. Farrell recently built a shedlike structure behind her house. It looks small from the outside, but it's surprisingly capacious within. Farrell has been painting nonstop since she moved in--perhaps in response to the freedom this new space offers after having worked in what she referred to as a "nun's cell" in the attic of her home..That might account for the glorious palette, too. Normally she works in darker hues (indeed, she's in a group exhibition,The Dark Show,that just opened in Philly). There's a landscape quality to her work--sometimes more, sometimes less--with a tangible surface that comes courtesy of encaustic. You can see more at theRuth Morpeth Gallerywhere she is represented, and on herP Farrell Art Blog..

Another view of Pam's painting wall with a different workA detail of The painting wall, below

Now we drive about 100 miles north and slightly west of Pam Farrell's studio to visit Steven Alexanderin Dalton, Pennsylvania, just outside of Scranton. Alexander lives with his family in the country in a contemporary home that he and his wife, Laura, designed and built. The ground floor, which opens to the back yard, is his studio. It's a large, well-lighted and column-free space that offers plenty of room to work.Despite the demands of full-time teaching and family responsibilities, Alexander is amazingly prolific. His paintings are geometrically composed and chromatically dramatic. The formal compositions of rectangular shapes allow the color to carry the work. Whether he paints in series (as with the small square paintings shown below) or in a larger format where each painting has its own compositional identity, shifts in hue and in color relationships are the heart of the work. Alexander works in acrylic in a way that looks like encaustic--optically and physically substantial, with a luminosity that comes from the refraction of color through layers of medium (all those gallon containers surrounding his worktable, below)..And did I mention he blogs, too? His Steven Alexander Journaloffers thoughtful and insightful comments about what he sees on his regular visits into New York. .

. We start with the far wall of the studio and pan the wall, below, where we find the artist (well, I asked him to pose with his work).

The small paintings you begin to see on the right wall are better viewed below:.

Continuing along the wall above, we come to the corner, below. Here, two new works propped against the wall show you the new direction in Alexander's work: a large central field that has pushed the other compositional elements to the edges

See that bit of color on the floor? There's a larger area of it just out of view. Alexander works flat for much of his process, and the floor receives all the paint that's squeegee-d and dripped off the canvas.

Next "What I Saw" installment: Art and Life in Washington County, New York

5 comments:

I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Love the post of these particular artists. I am a fan of their work and blogs. They both work in such beautiful layers and their surfaces look so rich. I hope to see both of these artists work in person soon. Thanks for such a wonderful informative blog Joanne!

MIAMI!

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Second Edition Published

“Silk Road: Excerpts From an Ongoing Series” has been published to mark 10 years of my involvement with one series, whose aesthetic I describe as “lush minimalism.” You can view the 56-page book in its entirety online at no charge. Click pic to view

Artists Choose Artists

Artist Annell Livingston writes about my work for the new blog, Vasari 21, founded by Ann Landi. Click pic for info and a link

Recent Solo: "Silk Road"

"Joanne Mattera: The Silk Road Series" was at Kenise Barnes Fine Art in Larchmont, New York, May-July. Some paintings are available for viewing at the gallery. Click pic for gallery info

Recent: August Geometry

More than just a summer show. Au-gust: adjective, respected and impressive. At the Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta. Click pic for info

Recent

I'm having a great year of exhibitions and catalogs. This volume, published by Space Gallery, Denver, on the occasion of the exhibition, "Pattern: Geometric|Organic," is viewable online and available for sale as a hard-copy volume. Click pic for exhibition info and a link to the catalog. That's my "Chromatic Geometry 29" on the cover

James Panero Reviews Doppler Shift

Writing in The New Criterion, Panero calls Doppler Shift "a smart group show, " noting the work of "artists who interest me most these days." There's a nice shout out to Mary Birmingham, the curator; to Mel Prest, who originated the concept; and to me, among others. Click pic for the review

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"Textility," curated by Mary Birmingham and myself for the Visual Art Center of New Jersey, Summit (where Birmingham is the chief curator), looked at contemporary painting, sculpture and work on paper in which textile elements were referenced or employed. The exhibition is over, but you can see this exhibition on line. Click on the links below to read and see more.

Review of Textility

Click pic to access review. Then click on page images to enlarge them for legibility

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About Me

THE FIRST CONTEMPORARY BOOK ON ENCAUSTIC PAINTING. AND STILL THE BEST

My book, The Art of Encaustic Painting, was published by Watson-Guptill in 2001. It's the first commercially published book on contemporary encaustic. There are three sections: history, with images of the famed Greco-Egyptian Fayum portraits; a gallery of contemporary painting and sculpture (including the work of Jasper Johns, Kay WalkingStick, Heather Hutchison, Johannes Girardoni and myself), and technical information, including an interview with Michael Duffy, a conservator at the Museum of Modern Art.